Iceland vs Scotland

Open Round 7

Iceland is proving to be one of the surprise teams of the Championships so far, and Scotland is also justifying the hopes of the tartan army. They met in Round 7 and had to cope with a number of tough deals.

Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul.
	ª K 10 8 4 2 © 10 ¨ J 8 5 2 § A K 4
ª J 7 © A 8 6 5 4 2 ¨ A K 7 § J 8		ª A Q 9 5 © J 9 3 ¨ 10 6 4 3 § Q 6
	ª 6 3 © K Q 7 ¨ Q 9 § 10 9 7 5 3 2

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Karlsson	Dragic	Sigurhjartarson	Diamond
		Pass	Pass
1©	1ª	2©	2NT
3©	All Pass

The merits of bidding 2NT on the South cards are not entirely clear, but North's values were in the right place and there was no problem this time. In Three Hearts North cashed the top clubs and switched to a diamond. Declarer won with the ace and played the jack of spades, covered by the king and ace. His next move was the jack of hearts, drawing applause from the audience. South covered, won the next heart and played a diamond. Declarer won, drew the last trump and ran the hearts, executing a show up squeeze on North for ten tricks.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Cuthbertson	Jonsson	Matheson	Johannsson
		Pass	Pass
1©	1ª	2©	All Pass

This time North cashed just one top club before switching to a diamond. Declarer won and played the ace of hearts and eventually arrived at eight tricks, +110 but 2 IMPs for Iceland.

Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul.
	ª A 9 © 10 6 4 ¨ K Q 9 5 2 § 9 8 4
ª Q 10 4 © 9 7 5 2 ¨ 10 6 3 § A J 7		ª 8 7 6 2 © A J 8 3 ¨ 8 § K 10 6 2
	ª K J 5 3 © K Q ¨ A J 7 4 § Q 5 3

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Karlsson	Dragic	Sigurhjartarson	Diamond
Pass	Pass	Pass	1NT
Pass	3NT	All Pass

West led the seven of hearts and East played the three, declarer winning with the queen. He cashed five rounds of diamonds, but the defenders discarded carefully and eight tricks were the limit, Iceland +100.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Cuthbertson	Jonsson	Matheson	Johannsson
Pass	Pass	Pass	1NT
Pass	3NT	All Pass

As before West led the seven of hearts, but this time East put on the ace and returned the suit. When declarer ran the diamonds East parted with the six of clubs followed by the two and six of spades. West let go the five of hearts and fatally, the four of spades. Declarer made no mistake, cashing the top spades to emerge with an overtrick and 10 IMPs.

Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Vul.
	ª Q J 6 3 2 © 10 4 3 ¨ Q 6 3 § 8 2
ª A K 8 © J 9 ¨ A 10 2 § A K 9 7 6		ª 10 9 7 4 © A 7 6 ¨ K J 7 § Q 5 4
	ª 5 © K Q 8 5 2 ¨ 9 8 5 4 § J 10 3

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Karlsson	Dragic	Sigurhjartarson	Diamond
	Pass	Pass	2¨*
Dble	3©	3NT	All Pass

North led a heart and declarer ducked two rounds, discarded a spade on the ace and then went after the clubs. North did not enjoy having to find three discards and declarer scored eleven tricks, +660.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Cuthbertson	Jonsson	Matheson	Johannsson
	Pass	Pass	2©
Dble	Pass	3ª	Pass
4ª	All Pass

The weak two did more damage than the multi as Scotland ended up in four spades. Declarer can survive a 4-2 trump break, but on this layout he had to lose three trumps and a heart, -100 and another big swing to Iceland.

Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul.
	ª J 8 7 3 2 © 9 3 2 ¨ K 7 6 § Q 7
ª A K 10 © K 5 ¨ A 10 9 4 § A 10 6 5		ª Q 6 5 © A Q 10 4 ¨ Q 3 2 § K J 9
	ª 9 4 © J 8 7 6 ¨ J 8 5 § 8 4 3 2

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Karlsson	Dragic	Sigurhjartarson	Diamond
1¨	Pass	1©	Pass
2NT	Pass	6NT	All Pass

As is often the case when there are a lot of points but no long suits an ambitious contract was reached. North led the two of spades, and while declarer was thinking, a number of views were expressed. Lorenzo Lauria felt the best line was for declarer to win in dummy and play a diamond to the nine. The commentators favoured winning in hand and playing a diamond to the queen. What you might hope to achieve, assuming you can make three tricks in diamonds is a situation where you have a count on the North hand so that you know that you can squeeze South. Of course, South might have five clubs to the queen and North four hearts, so its not immediately clear that you can.

DIAMOND Derek, Scotland

Meanwhile declarer won in hand and at once attacked clubs, playing one to the king and then finessing / the best line according to David Burn. Whatever, he was down, and assuming Scotland could register a plus score in the other room they were right back in the match.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Cuthbertson	Jonsson	Matheson	Johannsson
1¨	Pass	1©	Pass
2NT	Pass	4NT	Pass
6NT	All Pass

Give East a fifth diamond and this would be a perfect auction. As it was declarer was faced with the same problem as his counterpart. He won the spade lead in hand and played a diamond to the queen. Then he played one back to the nine and North-s king. He took the spade return in dummy and cashed two diamonds, North and dummy discarding spades and South a club. Now declarer tested the hearts. When they failed to break he cashed the ace of clubs followed by the king of spades, hoping to squeeze North. The appearance of the jack of hearts told declarer he was wrong, but North-s queen of clubs on the next round of the suit was a happy sight. +990.

Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul.
	ª J 10 8 4 2 © K Q ¨ Q 5 § K J 8 2
ª A 9 3 © J 5 ¨ A J 10 9 8 7 2 § 6		ª Q 5 © A 10 9 6 3 ¨ K 6 4 3 § 10 5
	ª K 7 6 © 8 7 4 2 ¨ - § A Q 9 7 4 3

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Karlsson	Dragic	Sigurhjartarson	Diamond
	Pass	2©	Pass
Pass	2ª	Pass	Pass
Dble	All Pass

It is not clear what West was thinking of when he doubled. East led the ten of clubs and declarer won, and naturally thinking the spades were all on his right played a trump to the king. West won and played the jack of hearts, covered by the king and ace. East switched to a diamond and declarer ruffed, played a heart to his queen and ruffed his remaining diamond. He was completely safe and played a club to ensure nine tricks and +870.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Cuthbertson	Jonsson	Matheson	Johannsson
	1ª	Pass	2§
2¨	Pass	3©	4ª
5¨	Dble	All Pass

There was nothing to the play, declarer losing the obvious three tricks, -200 but another significant swing to Scotland, making the match almost level.

Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	ª A Q 7 5 © - ¨ Q J 10 9 § A Q J 4 3
ª J 9 6 4 2 © J 8 ¨ A 8 § K 9 7 6		ª 8 3 © K Q 9 5 4 3 2 ¨ K 4 § 5 2
	ª K 10 © A 10 7 6 ¨ 7 6 5 3 2 § 10 8

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Karlsson	Dragic	Sigurhjartarson	Diamond
			Pass
Pass	1§	2©	Pass
Pass	Dble	All Pass

Is it totally clear for South to convert North's reopening double? Well, it worked well enough this time as declarer had to go one down, -200.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Cuthbertson	Jonsson	Matheson	Johannsson
			Pass
Pass	1§	2©	Pass
Pass	Dble	All Pass

An identical auction led to an identical result.

A small swing to Scotland on the last board saw them win by a single IMP, 42-41, a 15-15VP draw.